Chapter 8

Andrew never did have sex with Heloise again. They tried that night but Heloise was sore, and tense, and so they just fooled around and the evening ended with another knee buckling blowjob. Was it physiological or mental, Andrew didn’t know? But she was a nice young woman who had made his trip so much better. Instead he got a lot of kissing, good conversation and this wonderful long thin string bean of a woman lying on him. They fell asleep that way, she weighed nothing, and they only ended up spooning in the middle of the night. Andrew knew this because he was stabbing Heloise’s arse with his morning hard on when he woke up. Their morning routine was identical on the Friday morning as on the Thursday and Andrew walked the three or four blocks to Hermès drained and happy with his companion looking smug beside him.

The Friday shoot was an anticlimax compared to the day before. This was what Manon had expected, Andrew was the background prop this time, playing second fiddle to a whole range of Hermès products. The models were all fully dressed, often in outerwear, scarf prominent, or a Hermès bag prominent. He really was being objectified as some boy toy as they were all standing pool side fully dressed while he perpetually climbed out of the pool beside them. The look they were going for was very much the women were in control, in charge, and he was their plaything. Buy a Hermès scarf and you too can have Andrew climb out of the pool and into your life! Given the thousands of commercials that have played up the opposite of that, buy ‘whatever is being advertised’ and this pretty, big titted young lady will immediately find you irresistible, Andrew actually felt proud to be the token male in these scenarios. These commercials were less titillating than the day before and they made him no more money but these were the ones with the longest shelf life. He would still see these photos in magazines more than 10 years later. Hermès had a timeless brand and they would retire patterns or designs of scarves only to reissue them years later, think how Disney do it with all the classic cartoons, and the bags were utterly timeless and so they were able to reuse some of those shots from that day until close to the millennium. And Andrew got a couple of hundred quid for his trouble.

They had been shooting at one end of a hotel pool close to the Hermès offices, and so he showered and changed at the pool before walking back to their offices. Manon had an older lady in her office when he was shown in, and Andrew was introduced to Beatrice Raymonde, the Creative Director for Hermès. It was a classic one minute flyby, she thanked him for his work over the two days and wished him well in the future. It was only when Raymonde was gone that Manon visibly slumped in her chair and they could chat normally.

“How are you Andrew? Did you enjoy yourself?”

“It was very interesting to see a whole aspect of society and business that I knew nothing about. That I got to do it here in Paris just makes it even more special. I had a fun time. You and Phillippe, and Heloise have made this a memorable holiday for me and I am pretty sure that Margaux made it memorable for Pedro. So thank you for everything.”

“It has been good to spend time with you, get to know you better and I too have enjoyed the last two days. I felt the pressure when I talked Beatrice into using you for a shoot. You had caught her eye on Tuesday evening at the runway event but I would never have suggested that you model for us if I knew what you would have to do on Thursday. I still can’t believe that you were so calm yesterday.”

Manon stopped and a smile played across her face.

“I can’t believe that the tall rude man who got served before us in London would end up coming to Paris and helping me at work. I only wish I could have spent more time with you while you were here.”

“You were able to take Tuesday off and Pedro and I had a great time. I can only imagine the stories that he will tell about his two days in Paris.”

Dinner that night was just the four of them, and Andrew was going back to the hotel alone. Heloise had arranged previously to go out with friends nightclubbing and as he was on the first flight to London in the morning Andrew could escape that torture. He had made a friendship out of his brief acquaintance with Manon and had the foundations of a long friendship with Heloise. As a way to escape the routine of his life at Cambridge it had been a wild success. There were mutual thanks between Manon and Andrew when they parted and he extended an invitation for her and Phillippe to visit him in Edinburgh. They could go and stay the flat even when he wasn’t there, they might enjoy it more. Andrew walked Heloise over to a taxi rank and held her in his arms. When they kissed it was as friends not as lovers and it felt more real, maybe even more intimate. He walked back to the hotel and was asleep within minutes of his head hitting the pillow.

As Hermès had asked him to stay Andrew didn’t have to pay for the hotel, the bill was to be sent directly to them, so between that and the £400 he had made modelling the trip cost him nothing and in fact he was ahead even after the flights, trains and meals. The journey back to the flat on Saturday was a long day of airports but he was back by 6.00 that evening. For the very first time he was back in Edinburgh rather than having come home. Andrew knew he was not going to be returning to this city to live or work once he graduated. His whole life had been spent in Scotland but the future would be somewhere else, England, Europe, even North America. But not Scotland.

Andrew did a round of phone calls that evening, touching base with a bunch of people. Suzanne was out and he left a message, Maggie and Tony were also out, but he did get hold of Julian, and then Leslie, her parents separately, Pete, his grandmother and, after some bullying by his Grandma, Andrew called his parents. He was going to accompany his Grandma to church in the morning and so they agreed to meet for lunch afterwards. Andrew hoped that a neutral venue might contain comments and it would be good to see Scott, assuming his parents brought him. He had no idea, and frankly didn’t care, whether Rowan would be there or not.

He arranged to meet Julian and Leslie after the lunch and then the three of them would head over and see Brian and Mary. Pete and Andrew were going to go to the Nite Club the following Friday as usual but it would be good to catch up with him before then, if possible. As for Suzanne, just thinking about her got him horny. He looked forward to having her in his arms the next day.

Everything about that Sunday morning felt familiar and comforting. Andrew was up at his usual time and ran at the Meadows and was waiting for the Commonwealth to open. He swam hard for nearly an hour enjoying being back in the water after missing a week of swimming. After returning to the flat Andrew remembered that Manon had given him a wrapped present on Friday night, and had requested that he wait to open it until back to Edinburgh. With some time to spare Andrew opened the package to find six beautiful Hermès scarves. He had no idea how much these were worth but judging by the reaction of the six women he gave them to they were something to be treasured. Andrew was touched at the thoughtfulness of the gift but by the time he presented the last one was feeling indebted to Manon for them. Andrew thought about who he was going to give the scarves to. His Grandma, mother, Leslie, Suzanne and Maggie were all obvious and easy. Which left four people fighting for the final scarf. Rowan who he dismissed almost immediately, Freya Moray, as a thank you for letting him stay with her and Jim in London, and then Helena and Navya. Navya, Helena and Andrew were good friends and the thought troubled him of giving Helena something and not Navya. Was it a reward for sleeping with him? He had time to figure that out. So Andrew took two of the scarves with him for his Grandma, and for his Mum, although she would not get it in front of Rowan, that fight would be immediate and he just didn’t need the hassle. His Grandma loved her scarf and insisted on wearing it to church. It looked more than a little out of place in a drafty, stone-grey Presbyterian Kirk in the centre of Edinburgh but Andrew wasn’t going to force her to take it off. The real reason for wearing it was to show it off to all her old cronies after the service. Not only was her grandson there, ‘so tall, so handsome’ but now she could add ‘so thoughtful, so generous’. Andrew loved that side to her, there was a ruthless pride in him that was fun to see and so different to how she normally was. Andrew let her have her moment in the sun before escorting her to the car for the lunch with the family.

The lunch was a mess. Scott was happy to see Andrew and wanted Andrew to sit next to him during lunch. Surprisingly Rowan was quiet, bored and disinterested but much quieter than usual. Andrew was pleasantly surprised by her behaviour. As for his parents the lunch was like a foreign movie, it needed subtitles for you to really understand what was going on. His mother was trying too hard, as was his Grandma, his father wasn’t trying at all, and Andrew was reminded of his thoughts the previous week. His father wasn’t even pretending that all was well. As ever when trying to analyse the situation, Andrew had no idea why or when his father’s preference for Rowan had turned into antagonism against him. At one point his Grandma started to get into it with her son but Andrew put his hand on her arm to calm her. His father was still angry at Andrew, didn’t care to hide it and there seemed no point in pretending anything was going to change. Andrew’s family knew nothing about his life other than the superficial details he had shared about Cambridge. Leaving the table his father didn’t even acknowledge him, his mother cast a sad smile but followed her husband. Andrew wasn’t surprised at the hug from Scott, still way too young to understand anything that was going on. What did surprise him was the quick hug from his sister, possibly the first since his recovery from cancer. Absence had definitely been good for the two of them.

Inevitably after he dropped his Grandma off Andrew’s thoughts turned to his father. He didn’t get what his dad was mad about. It appeared to be his existence although Andrew hoped it was slightly narrower than that. But his father arrived spoiling for a fight. His disdain was getting worse not better, he clearly didn’t like Andrew. Andrew was not sure his father liked his own mother, he was dismissive of her scolding. The movie cliché of the tough but loving father than moulded his son into a fine young man, in Andrew’s experience did not exist. Fundamentally, for the first 12 years of Andrew’s life his father did not think of Andrew as his son, he thought Andrew was someone else’s child, and although that issue had been put to bed with the photo of Andrew’s grandfather, the damage was done. Andrew doing well at business and making significant money at it had been the tipping point and ever since then Gavin McLeod had come across as a bitter man, jealous of the success of his son. Nothing was going to change that, especially since he was upset about sums that were a tiny fraction of what Andrew actually had. The really sad part was he, and the rest of the family, knew nothing about either Trust. Andrew shook his head like a dog shaking of water. He was done with this. He was excited to see Julian and Leslie and so didn’t let another disappointing meeting with his parents get him down. Leslie and Julian were waiting on the street as Andrew drove by Julian’s place and they waved for him to stop.

“We want to show you something so head on up Marchmont Road.”

This was the greeting as they both piled into the car.

“Hi, I have missed you both too.”

“Get a move on, we are going to be late.”

Andrew laughed at Leslie’s exuberance but did as he was asked.

“It is good to see you Andrew but we made an appointment for 3.00 and we wanted to bring you with us.”

Andrew didn’t even bother asking where they were going as it was clearly designed to be a surprise. He was directed into a quiet residential street and found himself smiling. Andrew didn’t know where they were going but he knew what had happened. And so it proved, as he was directed to turn into a driveway in front of a substantial detached stone house. They all got out of the car and he just started congratulating them.

“What, you knew? Who told you.”

Leslie sounded mad.

“I didn’t know a thing about the house but I did know that the two of you were thinking about settling down and buying a place. I am guessing since you brought me along to see it that you have already bought it rather than are thinking about buying it. Yes?”

That was what had happened. They had bought the house the previous week and would take possession in three weeks’ time. The house was already empty so they had arranged with the estate agent for a viewing that afternoon so that they could show him the place. It was a two-minute drive from Julian’s flat but a world away. This was quiet suburban Edinburgh, away from traffic, students, noise, everything that Marchmont had to excess. It was also bloody enormous, five bedrooms, half an acre of garden as well as some kind of shared pasture at the end of the garden. Andrew didn’t know Leslie wanted a pony!

But as he walked around the place with them and saw how happy they were Andrew realised that this was the Edinburgh dream. And it was their dream. A big house, land, close to the city, room for children when the time was right, it had everything that a new couple could ever want in a house. There was a detached garage with space for two cars as well as two large workshops at the back of the building. And it was a 12 minute walk or a two minute drive from Andrew’s flat. He didn’t say anything to them at the time and it was several years later before the topic came up but he wondered about getting your dream so early. There was no inherited money, no family trust, some long forgotten relative did not bequeath this to them. It was through their own hard work, imagination, skill and a very healthy dose of luck. Leslie was 23 and about to graduate from university, Julian had just turned 21 and had one more year to go. They had a substantial house in suburbia, and jobs waiting for them. Leslie was going to run the Trusts and if they didn’t do anything stupid that could be her job for the next 35 or 40 years. Julian had a job lined up at Ferranti and had no worries or pressures about money. Andrew had struggled with what next, and wondered how they were dealing with it. But he didn’t want to sound critical of what they were doing so did not bring it up at the time. In a lot of ways Andrew envied their certainty, the realisation of a dream.

Andrew wondered about people who always wanted more, who were never satisfied with what they had. It was something he had pondered on and off ever since they made the money from licencing the AIMS software. He knew they were rich but had never realised how rich until Lord Barnes had point blank told him that the three of them were among the 250 richest Scots when they got the money. Now that was not legally true and only notional as Jullesand had been structured with the Trust holding 70% of the shares so they really were not legally that wealthy. But what was fascinating for him to observe was how the fact that they gave most of it away was so unusual. It had taken lots of people telling him repeatedly but it had sunk in finally. Wealth is used to beget wealth, to assert privilege, to get and to keep power. But the three of them had used the wealth to try and make a difference, first and most importantly with the cancer research trust, and secondly with the investment trust, which had changed to an endowment trust. That doing all of that, and giving all that money away irrevocably, still left them rich beyond most people’s dreams was never mentioned. None of the three of them were giving their worldly possessions away and taking a vow of poverty, rather they had given a sizeable percentage of their wealth away whilst still remaining millionaires. Together Julian and Leslie were worth more than £3.5m and the house represented less than 10% of that wealth.

But none of them wanted to be a modern precursor to someone like the Duke of Roxburghe. There would be no monstrous estate in the country, they would not be the landlord for a large group of tenant farmers, and would not keep chasing the next opportunity to get more money. More than any other single factor it was their shared view of wealth that kept them together. Julian and Leslie were moving fast in their relationship but there was a shared foundation that would serve them well. They didn’t want to be at Hermès’ private fashion show, all shiny and sparkly. If they ever were there, they would be more comfortable like Andrew had been, lurking in the wings, observing and judging, taking it all in for dissection later.

His friends were nesting and Andrew guessed that Leslie’s graduation present would be a ring from Julian. Unbidden Faith popped into his head and he wished that she was alive to see her sister so happy. After they toured the place, the estate agent locked up the house and told them they were free to wander the grounds. Andrew could only imagine his thoughts as he watched the three of them walk through the house. Once the agent had gone Andrew took out the Hermès scarf from the boot of the car and gave it to Leslie, preferring to do it there rather than at her parents given that he did not have a scarf for Mary. He really would have to thank Manon with something very nice because again he was thanked profusely for the gift. Hermès scarves were a big deal, who knew? Women apparently.

Andrew kept the tale of modelling for Hermès until they were over at the Campbell’s for dinner. He had debated keeping quiet about it but he seemed to spend too much time wondering about what to tell people. If he couldn’t trust these four people then who could he trust? So he explained everything to them from spending the day with Manon to meeting Heloise and the day they spent together. For Mary’s sensibilities Andrew glossed over the nights but they all knew how slutty he was so who was he kidding. It was a double revelation because to explain modelling for Hermès Andrew had to explain that he was modelling for some students at the Art School. Of course it was Leslie who started on him first.

“Let me get this right, you are modelling for four final year art school students?”

“Yes.”

“Why? It is so random Andrew.”

“They asked me and they were in a bind. I initially turned them down but then I realised as long as I could study while I was posing what was the big deal. I am in my swimwear just as if I was at the pool and it is professional and low key. Other than going for one drink with them near the end of term I don’t see them outside the studio.”

Leslie kept looking like she wanted to start speaking but would pause every time. Finally she was able to form a coherent sentence.

“When you put it like that I can see how you would struggle to say no. Damsels in distress, does not impact on your studying, chance for you to show off that body.”

All five of them laughed at the last one.

“It really does make sense when you break it down but it is still so very you Andrew. No one else I know would think nothing of doing something like that. So come on, carry on the story and tell us how you ended up modelling professionally.”

“Andrew McLeod, professional model. Is that going to be your business card?”

Julian was being very supportive.

“Can you imagine, I knew him when he was nothing but a student engineer!”

Hell, even Mary was getting in on the act. The recounting of the two days took more than an hour. Endless interruptions, questions and ‘you are not serious” comments. When Andrew described how he had to turn away from the female model as she gripped the towel so that it fell away and he was naked, the four of them were speechless, for about half a second.

“You were photographed naked Andrew?!”

Leslie sounded like she had just inhaled Helium.

“Yes, I think we did the shot seven or eight times with three different models. Basically my arse was on display for most of the hour. Oh and they filmed it to, it was not just still photography.”

Mary had her hand to her mouth in a classic ‘oh my’ pose which just made him laugh.

“Are you shocked at me doing that or are you trying to imagine the scene?”

Mary blushed and whacked his arm, both Brian and Julian laughed out loud which earned them both whacks from their respective partners. It was a relaxed and fun evening. The five of them had a laugh, mostly at Andrew’s expense, but this was ever more clearly a surrogate family. He had spent a strained 90 minutes with his own parents and didn’t laugh once. Between 3.00 and 8.00 first the three of them and then the five of them chatted, caught up and goofed around. Even Mary Campbell, normally so reserved and sombre, was in fine form. Julian and Leslie wanted to go to see a late movie but Andrew passed, there was no need to play third wheel and he wanted to stay and talk to Mary and Brian for a little while longer. Once they were gone they sat round the kitchen table with cups of tea.

“I wanted to have a little while with just the two of you. How are you doing?”

Mary answered first.

“I know what you are asking and it is wonderful, awkward and terrible all at the same time. We are so happy for Leslie and Julian is perfect for her.”

She stopped and looked at him.

“As you got older and the age difference became less of an issue we wondered whether the two of you would become a couple. But we realised that you were never going to be more than friends. So it is wonderful to see her, and them, so happy together and settling down and establishing roots in the city. That is the wonderful part. At the same time it seems that it is all happening so soon. Maybe awkward is not the right word it is more strange than awkward. It is strange to think that Leslie is settled, close by, and so happy. That is not strange but that she is able to do all that through her own efforts, well your combined efforts, but you know what I mean. Without financial support from us.”